Imaging the Brain with PET
This is another extensive chapter in understanding all the aspects of brain imaging and its related disease. For this reason I am asking you to focus on the following objectives.
- Identify the acquisition process with imaging the brain (all that happens before the patient gets on the table, issues related to acquisition, setting up the head, and acquiring data)
- Overall concept of how FDG can actually visualize tumor and infection. Consider the amount of tumor uptake and how much activity is picked up by gray and white matter (BKG).
- Sometimes tumor can blend into brain tissue, it all depends on how metabolically active the tumor is.
- Infection - Delayed imaging will be able to determine if you are looking at tumor vs infection
- Epilepsy - what is the role of FDG PET?
- Dementia - consider the role of FDG as it define the presences of AD.
- Extrapyramidal disorders - most important PD
- Understand the terms up and down regulation
- How does 18F-DOPA interact with disease
- CVA and related have reduced FDG uptake
- Types of brain cancer - most important, consider tumor uptake based metabolic rate
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